Beijing, China, August 9-23, 2008

Event 6 - August 15: Men's Individual Pursuit Qualifying

Wiggins flies to Olympic record

Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins broke his own Olympic record on his way to qualifying for the first round of the men's pursuit, going 0.134 seconds faster than his qualifying ride in Athens four years ago with a 4'15.031. The reigning world champion and defending gold medallist showed he is simply head and shoulders above the rest of the world by going nearly four seconds faster than his nearest competitor, Hayden Roulston of New Zealand.

Roulston put in a strong performance to win his heat against Jenning Huizenga, setting a 4'18.99 mark for the four kilometres. Russian Alexei Markov was third, two and a half seconds slower than the Kiwi, while Ukraine's Volodymyr Dyudya was fourth. Steven Burke of Great Britain was a surprise fifth. Burke set one of the slowest first two kilometres, but then clearly found some extra fuel in the tank and surged in the final half - going even faster than his team-mate Wiggins' last kilometre.

Spaniard Toni Tauler, Taylor 'mini' Phinney (USA) and Alexander Serov (Russia) all advanced to the next round. "My goal was just to qualify," said Phinney following his performance. "That was the hardest I've ever pushed myself in a pursuit. In training we thought the track would be faster, but it might have been a little colder in here today."

In a surprise defeat, neither of the Australians made the top eight and saw their dreams of a medal vanish. Bradley McGee was more than two seconds off the last advancing spot in ninth, while Brett Lancaster came in 12th. "That was not the Bradley McGee I expected to be. You come in with a positive mindset and in really good shape, but it just didn't turn out," McGee told AFP.